With many connectivity options on our smartphones nowadays, it’s easy to see how things can get very crowded on your status bar. LTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC get added to the time, battery level (and percentage), alarms, and maybe DND or hotspot icons to create a super cluttered status bar. Android has been allowing us to customize this in System UI Tuner for a while, and it has also made a few choices like removing the NFC icon when it’s not actively transmitting data, even when NFC is on.

In our third entry to our HomeKit automation series, we explore a simple way to create a door lock status light. While the status light could represent many things, I use it as a way to be sure all my doors are closed and locked…. Read the rest of this post here

While you hopefully never have to take advantage of it, your device’s warranty can save you hundreds of dollars on a new one if something happens to it. Even on premium Apple devices, hardware can fail and render your computer or phone useless. When your iPhone, Mac, or other Apple product suddenly stops working, you should check the warranty status right away to see if Apple will take care of it. Here’s how to use Apple’s website to check the warranty of your device. How to Check the Warranty Status of Any Apple Device Head to Apple’s Check Coverage website….

More intimate than text but easier to record than video, Facebook hopes voice could get people sharing more on its aging social network. And internationally where users may have to deal with non-native language keyboards, voice lets them speak their mind without a typing barrier. Facebook is now testing Voice Clips as a status update option in India with a small percentage of users. First… Read MoreMobile – TechCrunch

Want to let friends know you’re trying to party, hit the gym, focus on work, or grab a drink? That’s the idea behind a powerful new feature Facebook Messenger is testing called Your Emoji. Akin to offline meetup app Down To Lunch, it lets you overlay a chosen emoji on your Messenger profile pic for 24 hours as a way to spur conversation and hang outs, or just let people know… Read MoreMobile – TechCrunch